Vehicle

2004 Ford Explorer XLT 4WD 4dr SUV (4.0L 6cyl 5A)

Review

Since my 1st review 1 yr and 8 mos ago, it has cost over $4500 to maintain this SUV.Don't get me wrong - it's still very functional & great to drive. It's never left me stranded. But only 15k miles more (67k) of soft driving turned it into a money pit.Best ($$$) Goodyear Fortera TripleTred tires only lasted 29k, lots of brake work, rear bearings (fronts went at 50k), and last & certainly not least, just got a rebuilt tranny.I've owned 12 Fords since 1984, not one a lemon, but this comes the closest.Don't buy one of the '02-'06 models unless you have $$$ to spend on repairs.

Best Features

Worst Features

Ford should be ashamed of themselves for building such a faulty transmission, and then not
recalling it.
I'm sure they didn't because it would cost them millions.
I feel bad for those who bought one of these because of the high marks earlier Explorers got (like my '97), and now
can't afford to fix it.
Costly parts like brakes & bearings fail way too early in the product
life cycle - they need to be more heavy duty for those owners in the NE USA.